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Shipping Orders (Amazon)

Jen
December 08, 2016 10:03

Brightpearl is your central order processing system for all your integrated sales channels. All orders from Amazon need to be processed through fulfillment and shipping in Brightpearl (or via your shipping application). As these processes are completed Brightpearl will update Amazon. Letting Brightpearl manage all your orders ensures accurate inventory management. If you are using a shipping application other than ShipWorks or ShipStation please let us know and we will discuss other options.

Once your orders have downloaded into Brightpearl they will be visible on the recent sales list along with all your other orders. They need to be shipped like any other order, by fulfilling to a goods-out note which is then printed, picked, packed and finally shipped. Amazon orders can also be shipped in one or more shipments, from one or more warehouses using advanced fulfillment.

Summary of shipping features

Process

Possible for Amazon orders?

Partial shipping (multiple shipments)

Yes, full order lines and partial line quantities

Split items to back order

No

Send tracking reference to Amazon

Yes

Fulfillment & the goods-out note

Fulfillment is the process of creating the goods-out note for an order. This can be done one order at a time, or in batches. The goods-out note is the document which will be sent with the order. Often this will be printed onto paper with the customer’s delivery address positioned a sticky label which can be placed on the front of the package. Alternatively it can be folded up and placed in a plastic wallet, carefully ensuring the customer’s delivery address is at the front so it can be secured to the front of the package.

Your goods-out note is created in Brightpearl using a template. This might be same one you use for all your orders, or it might be a special design specifically for Amazon orders, including using a different logo if desired.

Partial shipments & back orders

Amazon allows orders to be fulfilled in multiple shipments. This means you can use advanced fulfillment in Brightpearl for Amazon orders. Once the first item is shipped the customer will be charged in full for the order.

Amazon orders should not be split to back orders. The back order would not be reflected in Amazon and would not be connected to the Amazon order; only the downloaded order is connected. Any items moved to a back order would never be marked as shipped in Amazon unless it is done directly in Amazon. For these reasons back orders should not be used on Amazon orders.

Print, pick, pack & ship

Once you have fulfilled the order to a goods-out note it is printed and moved onto picking and packing the items then finally shipping. Tracking references can be entered at the packing stage. Some steps can be skipped if they are not required in your processes, but the important step is to mark the goods-out note as shipped. This triggers several things:

Inventory update As soon as the order is marked as shipped in Brightpearl it signals that the items have left the building and so the in stock figure is reduced. This has no effect on the availability on Amazon since it is the on hand level that is synchronized; this was reduced as soon as the order was downloaded.

Order status update The order shipping status is updated in Brightpearl and in Amazon. In Amazon the order is marked as “shipped” which automatically emails the customer to let them know their order is on the way. Amazon require a shipping method to be sent from Brightpearl, although it is not referenced on the Amazon order. This means you must have at least one shipping method setup.

Accounting entries (When using cost of sales accounting only) Since the items are no longer in stock your inventory asset value must be reduced and the cost of sales recorded.

Note : Brightpearl will reconfirm Amazon shipping dates. The shipping date in Brightpearl will always be the one used by Amazon. This means that if an order is marked as shipped in Brightpearl it will upload that date/time to Amazon even when the order has already been marked as shipped directly in Amazon. This may cause Amazon shipping rules to be broken if the requirements are not met by the Brightpearl date/time.

Shipping confirmation emails to customers

When the order is shipped in Brightpearl the order will be updated with shipments on Amazon. To ensure shipping updates are sent back to Amazon from Brightpearl you will require at least one shipping method setup. Amazon require a shipping method to be sent with every shipping message, Brightpearl will use the default shipping method (ID = 1) to send with each shipping update, this means at least one shipping method must have been created.

Any tracking reference entered against the goods-out note in Brightpearl will be sent to Amazon and emailed to the customer in the shipping confirmation.

Related how to guides - Shipping Amazon orders

How to print, pick, pack & ship a goods-out note

Before you can perform these steps you will need to have created a goods-out note, this is done with a process called Fulfillment.

One at a time in an order/goods-out note:

In Brightpearl, search for and open the order.

Click on the goods-out note reference (find it against the fulfilled line items) to display the document.

Work through printing, picking, packing and shipping to goods-out note:

(Optional) Print the goods-out note.

(Optional) Mark the goods-out note as picked .

(Optional) Click to Pack the goods-out note. At this stage a tracking reference and final shipping method can be entered.Tracking references will be sent to the relevant sales channel if relevant. Emails and SMS can be sent to the customer to confirm the order is being dispatched, but this may already be handled by an integrated application, so decide which one will be used.

Finally, mark the goods-out as shipped .

The goods-out note can now be closed.

In batches:

In Brightpearl, go to Sales > Goods-out notes - due to ship .

Filter the list to the relevant warehouse.

Select one or more goods-out notes to process through printing. picking, packing and shipping:

(Optional) Click to print the documents.

(Optional) Select the goods-out note again, and click Pick . This will display a picking list for those orders.

(Optional) Select the goods-out notes and mark them as packed . A tracking reference can be entered and, if it has since changed, the final shipping method (for reference in Brightpearl only). Emails and SMS can be sent to the customer to confirm the order is being dispatched. Note : If the order is from an integrated sales channel, check your automatic email settings in your seller account.

Finally, select the goods-out notes and mark them as shipped .

Shipping the goods-out note will update the order shipping status, remove the items from inventory and post the relevant cost of sales accounting for inventory. Shipping cannot be reversed.

If the order was received via an integrated sales channel the shipping confirmation and tracking reference will now be uploaded to that channel.

How to fulfil a sales order / create a goods-out note

One at a time from within the order:

In Brightpearl, search for and open the order.

Hover over Fulfill order at the top of the order and select Fulfill and ship later .

The goods-out note is created and the reference is displayed. Click on the reference to view the document.

In batches:

In Brightpearl, go to Sales > Recent Sales/Quotes .

Use the filters to search for the orders to be fulfilled.

Select one or more orders to be fulfilled.

Click the Fulfill button at the top of the list.

Select Fulfill and ship later .

(Optional) Choose which status to place these orders on.

(Optional) If you want to apply a different shipping method than entered on the order records, change it here.

(Optional) To override the warehouses used on the orders, select one here.

Click the Fulfil button to create your goods-out note(s).

How to fulfill items on an order from different warehouses

Search for and open the order.

Hover over Fulfill order at the top of the page and select their third option Partial/Advanced fulfill .

Specify how many items are to be sent in this first shipment. Enter zero if none are to be sent.

Select the warehouse the items are to be shipped from (each different warehouse selected creates a separate shipment/goods-out note).

(Optional) Select a shipping method to assign to the goods-out notes, or leave it blank to apply the order shipping method.

Click the Create Purchase Orders / Goods notes button. The goods-out note will be displayed at the bottom of the screen.

Click the order reference at the top of the page to return to the order and see that it is partially fulfilled.